November ii, 1920] 



NATURE 



^* 



isolation, or to lacli of opportunity, but to native 

 inability and to the mating of defective with defective. 

 (i) Individual immijjrants of high potentiality tend to 

 marry with the belter native stocks, while those of 

 low potentiality gravitate towards inferior native 

 stocks. The whole history emphasises the usefulness 

 (a) of segregating the markedly defective, (b) of some 

 colonisation scheme, together with sterilisation, for 

 certain types of the socially unfit, and (c) of some 

 expert board of control with authority to prohibit 

 marriages of a cacogenic sort. There is danger in 

 ameliorative methods which allow the markedly unfit 

 to multiply and counteract natural agencies for the 

 selection of fit strains. More positively, public opinion 

 requires to be educated towards a keener realisation 

 of the possibilities of establishing, strong strains of 

 efficient citizens. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Cambridge. — .Mr. R. .\. Fisher and Mr. A. R. 

 MacLeod have been elected to fellowships at Gon- 

 ville and Caius College, anjl Mr. R. O. Street, Mr. 

 W. H. Bruford, and Mr. G. E. Briggs to fellowships 

 at St. John's College. 



LoNt>ON. — .\ course of nine lectures on "A His- 

 torical Review of Meteorological Theory " will be 

 ffiven at the Meteorological Office, South Kcnsinj^- 

 ton, S.W.7, by Sir Napier Shaw, reader in meteoro- 

 logv in the University, on Fridays at 3 p.m., be- 

 ginning on January 21 next. The course is intended 

 for advanced students of the University and others 

 interested in the subject. .Admission is free by ticket, 

 to be obtained on application to the Meteorological 

 Office, South Kensington, S.\V.7. 



The informal meetinjfs at the .Meteorological Office 

 for the discussion of important current contributions 

 to meteorology, chiefly in Colonial or foreign journals, 

 bepan on Mondav. November i, and will be continued 

 on alternate Mondays, with the exception of Decem- 

 ber 27, until March 21, 102 1. 



Dr. .\. Fii.TON, hitherto lecturer on engine.e; ing 

 in DurKlee University College, has been appointed to 

 the chair of engin(;ering in the same institution. 



Thb Cambridge University Calendar for 1020-21 

 has l>een published by the University Press, price 2n.<. 

 The volume contains lists of Universitv officials, prtv 

 fessors, lecturers, etc., and the regulations for pre- 

 scribed courses, degrees, and prizes. The Tripos lists 

 from if|ir-2o are given, and also the list of degrees 

 conferred during the ve.ir iqi<)-2o. Some three 

 hundred D«pe<« are devoted to notes on the individual 

 coHegrs, which give all the essential information about 

 the constitution of these bodies, the regulations for 

 admission, scholarships, ct<-., togethf-r with the lists 

 of fellows, grnduatcs. and undergraduates attached to 

 them. The volume is supplied with a general index, 

 and also with a complete index to members of the 

 University. 



The Calentbr lor the sesKlon 1020-21 of Univer-sitv 

 College, University of f,ondon, has been receive<l. In 

 it will be found romolete details of all the faculties of 

 which it is composed, together with time-tables for 

 all the courses provi<led and lists of the scholar- 

 •Hips. prizes, etc., available. There is also an 

 .11 1 f'lint of the assemblv held on luly a, when the 

 Amrriran Ambassador. Mr. John W. havis, took the 

 I hair. The Provost of the colletje made his retwrt for 

 the session tok) 20. and mentioned that during that 

 t>erio<l the rollefe had been the recipient of two gifts 

 from the TTnited States: one of i?;,, ,.,«,/ fr,,,,, f(„. 



NO, 2663, VOL. T06I 



I Rockefeller Foundation for the promotion of medical 

 research, and another, a collection of books on 

 .Xmerican literature, history, and institutions, from 

 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

 Other benefactions which were mentioned included a 

 gift of io,oooi. from Lord Cowdray for the extension 

 of the engineering school, and a grant from the Car- 

 negie United Kingdom Trust which had made it 

 possible to institute a school of librarianship. 



Details of the French Budget for 1920 are given 

 in the Fortnightly Survey of French Economic Condi- 

 tions of September i. For the Ministry of Public 

 Instruction and Fine -Arts a sum of 1,067,328,770 

 francs is provided which will be allotted in the fol- 

 lowing way : For public instruction, 994,335,47^ 

 francs; for the fine arts, 44,008,800 francs; and for 

 technical instruction, scholarships, etc., 28,984,494 

 francs. Of a total of 3,280,247,620 francs provided 

 for the Ministry of Public Works, 128,650,830 francs 

 is devoted to section 11, which deals with aeronautics 

 and aerial transportation. In the section of the 

 Budget deiiling with extraordinary expenditure which 

 is not provided for by taxation the Ministry of Public 

 Instruction and Fine .Arts is credittxl with a further 

 sum of 109,175,400 francs. The Ministiy also receives 

 129,762,000 francs for the reconstruction of schools, 

 etc., which will be recovered under various peace 

 treaties which have been signed; while the Mini.stry 

 of Agriculture will be credited with 5,812,000 francs 

 from similar sources for the purposes of reafforesta- 

 tion and the reconstruction of fences protecting State 

 forests. 



Tbachkrs' Leaflet No. 9 of the Bureau of Educa- 

 tion, Washington, illustrates the earnest endeavours 

 I now being made in the United Slates to place instruc 

 ' tion in civic rights and duties upon a firm foundation. 

 The leaflet, prepared under the direction of the 

 i Bureau's specialist in civic education, describes a 

 \ series of lessons in civics for the three primary grades 

 of city schools. Each lesson is based upon some situsu- 

 tion of civic significance in which the child is normally, 

 to be found. The typical situations include : Riding 

 in public conveyances ; visiting public plai?t;s ; an accU 

 dent ; a fire drill ; arrival of a new pupil or visitor to 

 the school ; the walk to school ; the arrival of the 

 mail; and contact with a sick person. In conversation 

 stvie the children are led to give their ob.servations 

 arid experiences, and through the teacher's intej-prcta- 

 tion and enlargements the civic significance is induced. 

 The svllabus is replete with suggestions, dramatisa- 

 tion without material being especLilly n-commendcd. 

 Similar situations are dealt with in each grade, the- 

 instruction being cumulative and concentric. The pro. 

 posed enlargement of the syllabus and its adaptation 

 to the requirements of the intermediate higher grade 

 will constitute an interesting and important experi- 

 ment in civic training. 



Thr Department of Aeronnutirs in the Imperial 

 College of Science and Technology announces on 

 extensive series of lectures for the year 1020-11. 

 Two full-lime courses have been arranged : fi) P 

 and Engineering and (2) Meteorologv and N 

 tion. The former course includes lectures on .mto- 

 dynamics by Prof. Balrstow, vith prncticnl class, 

 work under his direction ; a special course of mathe- 

 matics for students of aerodynamics : design lectures 

 and drnwinir-oflfice work umler Prof. Bnirstow and 

 Mr. F. T. Hill ; and lectures on the constrxiction and 

 strength of aircraft bv Mr. A. J. Sutton Pippard. 

 Kngine design is dealt with by Mr. A. T. F.vans, the 

 theorv of the internal-combustion engine forming 

 the subject of n series of lectures bv the director of 

 the department. Sir Richard Gtarebrook. A special 



